I am a Zimbabwean by birth, and a Capetonian by adoption. I am passionate about harnessing communication technology and media platforms for the advancement of open access to knowledge. Specifically, knowledge that relates to and enhances the understanding of Africa via the Open Movement (and especially Wikipedia). I am personally invested in the arts, film, social history, education, the written and spoken word, and natural heritage.

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Collectively these passions and experiences have evolved into the position of project manager of WikiAfrica at the Africa Centre. WikiAfrica is a cross-continental collaborative project that aims at encouraging and supporting communities and memory institutions across Africa to actively contribute to Wikipedia and its sister projects. I am also doing my Masters at UCT in African Studies, looking at the impact that source-generated, truthful online content has on an individual and the larger community.

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I am working on Wiki Loves Monuments, Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg and Wikimania 2015 in Cape Town.

I'm a 34 years old Joburger Passionate about Language (especially indigenous African Languages), History , Political, Social Issues and Music ( especially Jazz), I'm into broadcast media by profession , producing to be more precise. since i had to always translate the English content and stories i got from Wikipedia to siSwati for the TV and Radio shows i was producing , it just hit me then ,"why don't i start translating and editing myself" so that it will be easy for others to access this information in their own language and that's how the games began and i'm learning a lot as I go.

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In the digital world, where computers and smartphones are an everyday communication tools I see Wikipedia as a tool that empowers , give a voice and recognition to indigenous societies with information by telling their stories from their own perspective and inter-exchanging of knowledge hence growing their language status in the process.

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I am currently assisting in the Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 project.

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===[[user:Discott|Douglas Scott]] ===

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{{board

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|image = Discott_at_Wikimania2011.jpg

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|image caption = Douglas at Wikimania

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|name = Douglas Scott

|name = Douglas Scott

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|age = 31

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|age = 32

|location = Cape Town

|location = Cape Town

|languages = English, Mandarin Chinese, Afrikaans

|languages = English, Mandarin Chinese, Afrikaans

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|active wikis = Wikipedia (en)

|active wikis = Wikipedia (en)

|statement =

|statement =

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I am a Capetonian and have been an editor on the English Wikipedia since 2006. I currently work for the Safety Lab incubated out of the Cape Town Partnership in Cape Town where I am a research associate. Since attending Wikimania 2011 in Haifa I have become more deeply involved in organising and participating in Wiki related events on a grass roots level. In late 2011 I attended a number of events organised by Wikimedia UK in London such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/BM/Ice_Age_Event_-_October_13,_2011 Ice Age GLAM] project with the British Museum. In early 2012 I organised a series of workshops for Xhosa language academics and translators to increase awareness and promote participation in editing Xhosa language Wikipedia. Xhosa language Wikipedia is a project I would like to continue promoting. I am also interested in Cape Town hosting Wikimania in the future and in cultavating GLAM events and relationships with Libraries, Galleries, Archives and Museums in the Western Cape.

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I assisted in organising the 2012 and was the head organiser of the 2013 [http://www.wikilovesmonuments.co.za/ Wiki Loves Monuments] photographic competition. I am currently overseeing the professionalisation of Wikimedia ZA and leading the bid for Cape Town to host [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Cape_Town Wikimania 2015].

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Douglas has been an editor on English language [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] since 2006. Whilst studying for his masters in Economic Development policy in Beijing, China from 2007 to 2010 he became a very active editor contributing to South African and Chinese topic articles on Wikipedia. He first became involved in organising grassroots activities after attending his first [http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikimania in 2011] and participating in a number of events organised by [https://wikimedia.org.uk/ Wikimedia UK] whilst living in London such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/BM/Ice_Age_Event_-_October_13,_2011 Ice Age GLAM] project with the British Museum.

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Once he returned from London he joined the newly formed South African chapter of Wikimedia. In 2012 Douglas helped organised Wikimedia South Africa's first large event, the South African component of [http://www.wikilovesmonuments.co.za/ Wiki Loves Monuments], the largest photographic competition in the world. Since then he as organised the 2013 and 2014 Wiki Loves Monuments competitions, oversaw the professionlisation of the chapter by hiring its first full-time employee, organised a number of edit-a-thons, and most recently the [http://wikimedia.org.za/wiki/Wiki_From_Above_2015 Wiki From Above] photographic competition. He is always interested in projects that encourage more people to edit Wikipedia and contribute to [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikimedia Commons].

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He currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa and in his day job works in technology, data collection, and crime reduction.

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===[[user:Thuvack|Dumisani Ndubane]] ===

===[[user:Thuvack|Dumisani Ndubane]] ===

{{board

{{board

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|image = Dumisani Ndubane-4626.jpg

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|image caption = Dumisani at 2013 chapters conference

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|image caption = Dumisani

||name = Dumisani Ndubane

||name = Dumisani Ndubane

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||age = 30

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||age = 31

|location = Johannesburg

|location = Johannesburg

|languages = English, Xitsonga

|languages = English, Xitsonga

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|active wikis = en-wv; ts-we

|active wikis = en-wv; ts-we

|statement =

|statement =

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My name is Dumisani Ndubane, I have been a wikipedian since 2008. I'm involved in the Xitsonga Wikipedia and occasionally in the English Wikipedia. I am involved in the organisation of wiki Loves monuments for South Africa. I am an Electrical Engineer by profession. The foregoing has given me the privelege to work closely with some of the existing board members and ex-board members. I believe that the exposure and experience I have on wiki projects, combined with my project management skills can be somewhat useful to the Wikimedia-za chapter. My passion is in the development of small language wikis and attraction and retention of Editors in these wikis. I also have interest in GLAM activities within the Archives environment and hope to foster lasting ties between Wikimedia ZA and the National Archives and other heritage bodies.

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My name is Dumisani Ndubane, I have been a Wikipedian since 2008. I'm involved in the Xitsonga Wikipedia and occasionally in the English Wikipedia. I am involved in the organisation of Wiki Loves Monuments for South Africa and Joburgpedia.

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I am an Electrical Engineer by profession. The foregoing has given me the priveledge to work closely with some of the existing board members and ex-board members. I believe that the exposure and experience I have on Wiki projects, combined with my project management skills can be somewhat useful to the Wikimedia-ZA chapter. My passion is in the development of small language Wikis and attraction and retention of Editors in these wikis. I also have interest in GLAM activities within the Archives environment and hope to foster lasting ties between Wikimedia ZA and the National Archives and other heritage bodies.

|statement = I'm a chemical engineer with a master's degree in Biochemistry, currently working in R&D for Kraft Foods South Africa. <br><br>With the continued scramble for ownership of information by corporations and individuals, it takes continued effort on the part of ordinary citizens to provide free, open alternatives. This effort need not be onerous, and can be fun and educational, but it is important to involve a large number of people from diverse backgrounds. I am often saddened by the lack of awareness of free software and documentation: lack of awareness of the availability of such sources, as well as lack of awareness of the principles underlying them. I want to work to remedy that in South Africa.

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|statement =

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}}

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Pria has over 10 years experience as a technology law and policy advisor to public and private sector organisations, developing country governments and international organisations. In 2007, Pria founded a leading South African technology law firm which was acquired by Pricewaterhouse Coopers in 2011. Following the acquisition, Pria was responsible for establishing and heading the technology legal and regulatory service area for the PwC national advisory practice. She left PwC in 2013 and went on to serve as an expert consultant on an ITU project focusing on technical assistance in the area of cybersecurity law and policy for Southern African countries.

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As a thought leader, Pria has presented at local and international technology conferences including conferences in Egypt, Canada, Senegal and Namibia and published in local and international newspapers, magazines, and journals. She has also published book chapters examining emerging technology law and policy topics with particular emphasis on recommendations for developing countries. Pria currently serves as a member of regional and international expert groups and advisory boards including the BRICS Cybersecurity Expert Group and the Southern African Innovation Network and is an Associate at the Global Cybersecurity Centre at Oxford University.

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===[[user:MADe|Maarten Deneckere]] ===

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Pria is passionate about facilitating technology law and policy that enables ICT opportunities in Africa.

I am Maarten, a Belgian expat based in Cape Town. I moved to South Africa at the end of 2011.

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I am from Johannesburg. Things that are close to my heart are history, visual arts, language, heritage, culture, music and politics. I'm presently the Wikipedian in Residence for the Joburgpedia project. In a nutshell I'm responsible for digitizing archived documents and pictures from the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. This to me is important because it means that I am bridging the gap between the past, the present and the future, It means that I don't only see change happening, but that i'm being part of the change, and it also means that I'm participating actively in the direction the change is taking. Digitizing documents makes them more accessible, generates interest for a collection, and helps preserve the originals. Be the change that you want to see in the world, Mahatma Gandhi.

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I have been an editor since 2005, mainly on the Dutch Wikipedia. In Belgium and the Netherlands I organised multiple events, including last year's WLM competition in Belgium, and during my stay I'm trying to do the same in South Africa. I went to two Wikimania conferences where I was a presenter.

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I am currently working on the Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 project. Other goals in South Africa are the development of the smaller language wikis.

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==Past Directors==

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===[http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebruiker:Oesjaar Deon Steyn] ===

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<div class="dshuf dshufset2">

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{{board

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|image = Deon Steyn.png

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|image caption = Deon

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|name = Deon Steyn

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|age = 53

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|location = Johannesburg

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|languages = Afrikaans, English, German

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|wikimedian since = 2009

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|active wikis = af, en, de

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|statement =

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Deon is a professional technologist specialising in telecommunication. His passion is to contribute technical articles to the Afrikaans Wikipedia for use by students.

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===Mohau Monaledi===

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{{board

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|image = Mohau Monaledi.jpg

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|image caption = Relaxed Mohau

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|name = Mohau Monaledi

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|age = 38

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|location = Pretoria

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|languages = English, Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Zulu

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|wikimedian since = June 2006

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|active wikis = English Wikipedia, Northern Sotho

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|statement = I'm a Software Developer working for an IT Company in Johannesburg. My interests, besides software design, are Music and helping to make Wikipedia an accessible reality in African languages.

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</div>

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===[Liebe Brand] ===

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===Charlene Foster===

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{{board

{{board

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|image =

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|image caption =

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|name = Charlene Foster

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|name = Liebe Brand

|age =

|age =

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|location =

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|location = Cape Town

|languages =

|languages =

|wikimedian since =

|wikimedian since =

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|active wikis =

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|active wikis =

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|statement =I was introduced to the prospect of participating in establishing a Wikimedia chapter in South Africa by Nhlanhla Mabaso during extensive discussions to establish an online community to continue the work of a children and youth project called “Lets take care of the Planet, initiated by the Brazillian Departments of Education and Environment to create further awareness of activities and initiatives by young people (internationally) with the support of their respective governments, NGO’s and communities focused on environment and culture as a tool for cohesion and change.

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|statement =

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I am managing partner and founder of Afrastocracy , a consultancy focused on broadbased development through knowledge work, new media and technology. We are a next generation, collaborative consultancy with a global network and varied expertise. I am a visionary pioneer, using a diversity of tools, incorporating both personal and business skills, such as; consulting, management, leadership, research, negotiation, coordination and development qualities, which enables me to network in a cross spectrum of circles and easily identify and merge the right mix of people and concepts effectively. I primarily focus on developing ways of optimizing human-capital and growth potential. I am able to motivate and inspire individuals to realizing their true nature and full potential.

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Ultimately, I offer over twenty years of experience in strategic planning, project origination and management, logistics, protocol, (political and other) business and people management, marketing, and an established network of bi-lateral business and organizational exchanges within South Africa and Internationally. I presently reside in Johannesburg and am the mother of two sons.

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===Ian Gilfillan===

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===[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Greenman Ian Gilfillan] ===

{{board

{{board

|image =

|image =

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|image caption =

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|image caption =

|name = Ian Gilfillan

|name = Ian Gilfillan

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|age = 39

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|age = 44

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|location = Cape Town

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|location = Cape Town

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|languages = English, Afrikaans, a smattering of a few others I'd be too embarrassed to list

|active wikis = English Wikipedia, bumble around on the other South African language Wikipedias, occasionally Wikivoyage, Wikiquote, Wiktionary

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|statement = I'm director and a founding member of the [http://www.ethical.org.za/ Ethical Co-op], a co-operative supplying organic and ethical produce around Cape Town and countrywide. Previously (prior to 2005) I was head of IT at [http://www.iol.co.za Independent Online]. I still run my own IT consulting company, although now I'm concentrating fulltime on the Ethical Co-op. I have an open source IT background, working for a startup that tried to sell Linux PC's (in 1997!) and writing the first online grocery store in the country in 1997/98, and I wrote a book on MySQL, the open source database, in 2003. I've got qualifications in English and Philosophy as well as IT.

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|statement =

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We learn the most from self-study, and I'm inspired by experts who've been too impatient to wait x years for a piece of paper, and who learnt for themselves, not to impress others. I enjoy seeing how Wikimedia challenges those who rely on their credentials to win an argument, and seeing how merit, with patience, can win out.

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I've been highly passionate about Wikimedia since I first came across it - the dream of everyone being able to access the world's knowledge in their own language had resonated strongly with me since a book I'd read by Ursula Le Guin years before. The English Wikipedia is great, but I'm more excited by the Swahili Wikipedia, and have blogged often about the African language Wikimedia projects.

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I'm particularly interested in helping develop the Wikipedias in the various South African languages, and content on local history, literature and humanities, which is in an appalling state.

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You can read more about me [http://www.greenman.co.za/blog/?page_id=385 on my blog].

|statement =I am a director of the South African non-profit organisation The African Commons Project which org has the mandate to empower local communities through digital technologies. I am committed to open content; knowledge sharing and collaboration knowledge creation. Our organisation, working with global org iCommons, has been involved with Wikipedia since 2007 when we invited Jimmy Wales to come here for the SA Free Culture Tour along with Lawrence Lessig, one of the founders of Creative Commons.

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|statement =

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I joined the WMZA team at the end of 2013 as Administrator for the Chapter and am passionate about promoting all the Wiki's. My specific focus for this coming year is expanding the Afrikaans Wikipedia.

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Although not an active content contributor to the Wikimedia projects, I am an avid consumer. My experience lies in building and faciilitating partnerships, conducting projects around open content and event coordination and digital documentation.

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<div class="dshuf dshufset1">

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===[[user:LouriePieterse|Lourie Pieterse]]===

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{{board

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|image = LouriePieterse2.jpg

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|image caption = Lourie Pieterse

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|name = Lourie Pieterse

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|age = 21

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|location = Stellenbosch

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|languages = Afrikaans, English.

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|wikimedian since = October 2008.

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|active wikis = Currently none.

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|statement = I am currently a student at the University of Stellenbosch, studying physics. I’ve been involved with the Wikimedia Foundation, mainly participating in community related affairs. At a later stage I also became a Toolserver developer. From the beginning of 2010 I stopped contributing to these projects, both as editor and software developer. I stopped because my other projects take up to much of my time, not because I didn’t like participating in these projects.

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Currently I am working with my university to incorporate Wikimedia projects in the course curricula. The main idea is to get students to contribute to Wikimedia projects both as part as their course and to motivate them to also do so in their free time. I am additionally working on a project to motivate students to be innovative and develop patentable technologies. I am also a part-time researcher for our physics department. My research focuses mainly on propulsion and positioning methods for satellites. Additionally I focus on electrospray techniques and the nanotechnology which could be developed from them. In my free time I do science related projects, such as competing in the Google X Prize with a European team.

Douglas has been an editor on English language Wikipedia since 2006. Whilst studying for his masters in Economic Development policy in Beijing, China from 2007 to 2010 he became a very active editor contributing to South African and Chinese topic articles on Wikipedia. He first became involved in organising grassroots activities after attending his first Wikimania in 2011 and participating in a number of events organised by Wikimedia UK whilst living in London such as the Ice Age GLAM project with the British Museum.

Once he returned from London he joined the newly formed South African chapter of Wikimedia. In 2012 Douglas helped organised Wikimedia South Africa's first large event, the South African component of Wiki Loves Monuments, the largest photographic competition in the world. Since then he as organised the 2013 and 2014 Wiki Loves Monuments competitions, oversaw the professionlisation of the chapter by hiring its first full-time employee, organised a number of edit-a-thons, and most recently the Wiki From Above photographic competition. He is always interested in projects that encourage more people to edit Wikipedia and contribute to Wikimedia Commons.

He currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa and in his day job works in technology, data collection, and crime reduction.

My name is Dumisani Ndubane, I have been a Wikipedian since 2008. I'm involved in the Xitsonga Wikipedia and occasionally in the English Wikipedia. I am involved in the organisation of Wiki Loves Monuments for South Africa and Joburgpedia.

I am an Electrical Engineer by profession. The foregoing has given me the priveledge to work closely with some of the existing board members and ex-board members. I believe that the exposure and experience I have on Wiki projects, combined with my project management skills can be somewhat useful to the Wikimedia-ZA chapter. My passion is in the development of small language Wikis and attraction and retention of Editors in these wikis. I also have interest in GLAM activities within the Archives environment and hope to foster lasting ties between Wikimedia ZA and the National Archives and other heritage bodies.

Pria Chetty

Summary Details

Personal Information

Name: Pria Chetty

Location: Johannesburg

Languages: '

Editorial

Wikipedian since: 2014

Active wikis: Wikipedia (en)

Statement

Pria has over 10 years experience as a technology law and policy advisor to public and private sector organisations, developing country governments and international organisations. In 2007, Pria founded a leading South African technology law firm which was acquired by Pricewaterhouse Coopers in 2011. Following the acquisition, Pria was responsible for establishing and heading the technology legal and regulatory service area for the PwC national advisory practice. She left PwC in 2013 and went on to serve as an expert consultant on an ITU project focusing on technical assistance in the area of cybersecurity law and policy for Southern African countries.

As a thought leader, Pria has presented at local and international technology conferences including conferences in Egypt, Canada, Senegal and Namibia and published in local and international newspapers, magazines, and journals. She has also published book chapters examining emerging technology law and policy topics with particular emphasis on recommendations for developing countries. Pria currently serves as a member of regional and international expert groups and advisory boards including the BRICS Cybersecurity Expert Group and the Southern African Innovation Network and is an Associate at the Global Cybersecurity Centre at Oxford University.

Pria is passionate about facilitating technology law and policy that enables ICT opportunities in Africa.

I am from Johannesburg. Things that are close to my heart are history, visual arts, language, heritage, culture, music and politics. I'm presently the Wikipedian in Residence for the Joburgpedia project. In a nutshell I'm responsible for digitizing archived documents and pictures from the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation. This to me is important because it means that I am bridging the gap between the past, the present and the future, It means that I don't only see change happening, but that i'm being part of the change, and it also means that I'm participating actively in the direction the change is taking. Digitizing documents makes them more accessible, generates interest for a collection, and helps preserve the originals. Be the change that you want to see in the world, Mahatma Gandhi.

Administrative Support

I joined the WMZA team at the end of 2013 as Administrator for the Chapter and am passionate about promoting all the Wiki's. My specific focus for this coming year is expanding the Afrikaans Wikipedia.